Page 1 of Treehouse Whispers
Chapter 1
“Come in, come in! Are you there?” Benji released the button on the old-fashioned walkie-talkie so Jamie could reply. He hoped Jamie was. Benji needed someone to talk to, and Jamie was—and always would be—his first choice.
Benji had lived next door to Jamie since they’d been born. Their parents were childhood best friends, and their mums had become pregnant at the same time. There were only two weeks between Jamie and him—fourteen days exactly—and Jamie was the oldest but never drew attention to it.
Benji jiggled his knee up and down, waiting for Jamie to answer. His stomach was bubbling, and he hated it when time went extremely slow. He needed Jamie to calm him down. Jamie’s personality was the perfect counterbalance to Benji’s anxiety-driven one.
“Hey, Benji. I’m here.” Benji closed his eyes and sighed as Jamie’s voice came through.
“Can we meet at the treehouse?”
“Sure. See you in five.”
Benji jumped off his bed, grabbed his bag containing his drawing things and ran down the stairs, swinging around the bottom bannister as he had done from the moment he could walk. Both their parents had moved to new houses since their businesses grew exponentially over the years, allowing for the luxury, but he and Jamie had stayed—Jamie in his parents’ old house and Benji in his.
Flying through the back door, Benji jumped down the steps into his garden, racing across the grass to the tree. The treehouse was Benji and Jamie’s place. When they were eight, their parents had agreed they could have treehouses after they had both pleaded for weeks. Originally, the plan had been to create two separate treehouses, but Benji remembered the look their parents shared when Jamie had piped up with “Why not have one big house?”
For the past twenty-five years, they'd had one large treehouse built across two giant oak trees that had been part of their back gardens for many years even prior to their family coming along. It was a sight to behold. The treehouse must have been fifteen feet across and ten feet high with sturdy ladders reaching from the ground on both sides of the fence. The inside consisted of one large open space and exposed windows; therefore, in the colder weather, they had to take blankets and pillows up there to keep warm.
Benji had brought up blankets earlier in the day, allowing him to climb unhindered. He was the first to arrive, so he sat on his blanket cross-legged, resting his back against the wall and took out his drawing pad and pencils. His hand darted across the page, lines developing into an image of the treehouse. He licked his lower lip repeatedly as his heart hammered, decisions were never his forte. It was too easy to see outcomes as a glass-half-empty rather than half-full. He didn’t think he would ever be able to relax when it came to focusing on his abilities.
Hearing footsteps on the ladder, Benji looked across as Jamie poked his head through the entrance.
“Sorry, thought I'd bring out some hot chocolate to keep us warm.” Jamie glanced around. “Doesn’t seem to be too bad.” He set the two flasks down and dropped his blankets and bag. Picking up one blanket, he flicked it out to lay it flat, repeating it with the other and dropped himself next to Benji, relaxing his back against the wall and stretching his legs out long. Letting out a long exhale, Jamie peered at Benji with a smile. “Hey, you.”
“Hey, Jamie.”
“What’s up?” Jamie asked as he unscrewed a flask and poured the hot chocolate into one of the plastic mugs.
“Mum and Dad asked whether I was going to send my paintings to the gallery. I can’t decide what to do about it. What do you think?” He continued sketching as he talked. Benji wasn’t being ignorant; he needed the settled feeling he received from drawing to help him decipher his thoughts.
“Okay, well, you already know you want to, don’t you?” Jamie asked. Benji nodded. “What’s stopping you?”
Benji frowned down at his work as his pencil continued to mark the page. "What if no one likes them?"
"You're already selling paintings online, why would being at a gallery be any different?" Jamie passed him the cup. “Don’t forget to drink this. It’ll warm you up.”
That was another thing about Jamie; he was always taking care of Benji. It was one of the many reasons Benji loved him.
Jamie’s birthday was coming up in a couple of weeks, and Benji was creating something special for him. Jamie deserved it, especially with everything he did for Benji.
Growing up, they had met all their milestones together: walking, riding a bike, exams and even figured out they were gay together. He could remember as if it were yesterday.
After several weeks of sex education and puberty lessons at school, they sat in their treehouse.
“I don’t understand why we have to sit and watch those videos? I don’t want to see a man and a woman having sex. It’s gross.” Benji’s pencil flew across the paper.
“If you can’t see the fascination with it, maybe you’re gay,” Jamie stated, rummaging through his backpack. “I know I am.”
“You are?” Benji flicked his gaze to him.
Jamie paused what he was doing and glanced over at Benji. “But just because I am doesn’t mean you are. Only you can decide.”
Benji returned his attention to his paper but didn’t draw anything. “When did you find out?”
“A couple of weeks ago. Something was different about me, and I couldn’t figure it out.”
“How did you?”
